Poll Supports Retesting Teachers

Five out of six Americans (84 percent) believe that teachers should be retested regularly in order to keep their teaching licenses, according to an October 23 poll conducted for Good Housekeeping. More than half (52 percent) said that giving teachers tenure was a bad idea, and almost a third of those who initially supported tenure changed their minds when told that most other American workers don’t have such job protection.

In the GOP radio address on December 27, Senator Alfonse D’Amato recommended an end to tenure and the lifetime job protection it gives teachers. The New York Republican also supported merit pay and teacher evaluation every five years to keep their jobs.

“Those teachers who have succeeded in the classroom would be retained, and some even given merit raises,” said D’Amato. “Those who have failed our children would be replaced by teachers who will do better.”